Paul c



P.'C. RICHTER.

DOOR CLOSER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. a. 1919.

Patented Sept. 2, 1919.

@TATES PATENT OFFICE.

PAUL C. RICHTER, 0F STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSI GNOR TO THE YALE & TOW NE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT.

I DOOR-CLOSER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept 2, 1919.

Application filed February 3, 1919. Serial No. 274,765.,

To all whom it may concern: b y

Be it known that I, PAUL C. RIC TER,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Stamford, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented cernormally holding a door in open position,

and it consists in improved means for releasing the door holding means in the event of a fire, so that the door will then automatically close and thus cut ofi the draft and assist in confining the fire to the room in which it started.

In the accompanying drawings; Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of y a door closer with my improvement applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation, partly in section of the same; Fig. 3 is a plan view of the two part seat; Fig. 1 is a view in section of the lever arm, on the line a w of Fig. 1, and Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are views similar to Figs. 1, 2 and 41, of a modified construction. 1

The improvement is designed for use with door closers, or with combined checks and closers, consequently I do not confine its application to 6ltl1t31,tl11d in the use of the termdoor closer, I intend to include com bined checks and closers.

10 represents the casing of a door closer, and 11 is the spindle to which the lever arm 12 is secured, the said lever arm being adapted for cocperation with the mechanism of the door closer and with the door in the usual and well known manner.

For the purpose of holding the door open, the lever arm 12 is provided with a spring pressed dog 13, and the cap of the closer casing is provided with an upwardly projecting stop or rib 14 which is engaged by the lower beveledend of the dog when the door is in itsopen position, the dog riding,

over the stop during the opening movement of the door and dropping behind thesame when fully open, the pressure of the spring bearing against the dogbeing sufficient under normal conditions to prevent the latter from rising out of engagement with the stop,

but not of course preventing the free manual operatlon of the door tOGltllBI' close or open the same. The dog 13 is mounted to move vertically in the lever arm 12 and isprovided with a chisel or beveled lower endto engage the stop 11, and with a head which limits its downward movement and against which the free end of the long flat spring 15 bears, the head of the dog being grooved to receive the end of the springywhereby the latter prevents the dog from turning in its bearing, 1

The opposite end of spring 15 is supported by the pin 16 which is preferably shouldered as at 17 to form a seat for the spring. The spring 15 may be secured to the pin 16or it may be loosely seated on the same, the function of the pin beingto hold the spring in its normal position and under tension so long as it remains properlyseated, as hereinafter explained. This pinis loosely mounted in an opening through the lever arm 12 and projects below the latter and, is made conical at its lower end as shown in Fig. 2. Suspended from the lever arm 12 is the saddle 18 the side arms of which rest a on the upper face of the lever arm and are preferably curved to conform to the contour of the latter. The lower member of this saddle is provided with an opening 18 through the same, the said opening being of slightly greater diameter than the pin 16, and located in the vertioalplane of the latter so that when the pin support carried by the saddle separates, the pin will i be free to fall into or through the hole 18 and thus release the end of the spring 15, which is normally supported by the saidpin.

The pin support 19 consists of two members made of comparatively thin metal and each preferably composed of two disk shaped ends connected by a narrow neck, each of the latter being cut away approximately at its center so that When the two parts o1 the seat are assembled the cut away portions of the necks thereof form a circular open seat in which the conicalend of the pin 16 rests.

part and the two parts are secured together by a readily fusible alloy or solder between ,parts of'the seat 19 so that the pressure of the disk shaped ends, and when so assembled the necks of the two members rest side by side and form the seat for the pin.

The tension of the spring 15 is created and regulated by the tension bolt 20, which passes loosely through a hole in the lever arm and through a hole in the spring and carries a nut 21 at its outer end. By adjusting the nut up or down on the bolt the ten sion of the spring will be decreased or increased. It is evident however that instead of using a nut the hole in the spring may bethreaded to engage the'threads on the bolt.

With this construction it will be seen that when the spring 15 is put under tension by the tension bolt 20, which is located intermediate the ends of the spring, it will bear at one end on the dog 13 and at the other end on the pin 16, and the conical end of the pinresting within the two part seat on the pin support, tends to spread or separate the latter, and thus permit the pin 16 to drop. The ends of the pin support 19 are removed from the lever arm 12 and also removed from the saddle, and are therefore directly exposed to the influence of any heat, hence if the temperature rises abnormally and to a degree sufficient to fuse the alloy or solder, the latter quickly melts and releases the two the spring 15, transmitted through the conical end of the pin, instantly separates the seat sections and thus removes the support for the pin. The removal of the pin support or seat, relieves the spring of its tension thus leaving the dog 13 free'to rise over the stop 14 under the the closer. V

In the construction shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7 I have dispensed with the saddle 18 and seated the pin 16 on the top of the closing action of the spring in lever arm 12, the shoulder 16 on the pin resting on the top of the lever arm and preventing any downward movement of the pin. The top surface of the pin is in the shape of an inverted cone on which the seat 19 rests, the latter being constructed precisel like the seat 19 except that its ends are bent downwardly as shown in Fig. 7.

The spring 15* is provided at its end over the pin 16 with a hole of greater diai'neter than the pin, so that when the seat 19 is destroyed by the melting of the alloy or solder securing the two parts thereof together, the end of the spring can drop onto the upper I face of the lever arm and thus remove the tension of the spring on the dog 13. In this latter form I have shown the tension bolt :20 engaging a threaded opening in the screw thus dispensing with the nut shown in Fig.

It will of course be understood that with k a construction wherein the tension of the spring is removed by the removal of the seat "for the outer end of the spring, the tension bolt should have a loose fit in the lever arm, or the spring a loose fit on the tension bolt so that when the end seat of the spring is removed the spring will not bind on the tension bolt or the latter not bind in the lever arm, but that one of said parts will be free to move, so as to relieve the tension on the dog 13.

It is evident that many slight changes might be resorted to in the relative arrangement of parts shown and described without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention. Hence I would have it' understood that I do not wish to confine myself to the exact construction and arrangement shown and described but,

Having fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of a door closer having a stop, a lever arm, a. dog mounted in said lever arm and engaging the stop for holding the door open, a spring one end of which bears on said dog, a collapsible seat for the other end of said spring, the said seat being carried by the lever arm and secured in fixed position on the latter by fusible solder, and a tension bolt carried by the lever arm and engaging the spring intermediate its ends for adjusting the tension of the spring.

2. The combination of a door closer having a stop, a lever arm, a dog mounted in said lever arm and engaging the stop for holding the door open, a spring one end of which bears on said dog, a tension bolt for the spring, a pin carried by the lever arm and having a tapering surface and a two part seat coacting with the tapering surface of the pin for supporting the other end of said spring,-the two parts of said seat being held together by a fusible alloy which when it melts permits the parts of the seat to spread under the influence of the tapering surface and thus release the end of the spring supported by the same.

3. The combination of a door closer having a stop, a lever arm, a dog mounted in the lever arm and engaging the stop for holding the door open, a spring one end of which bears on the said dog, a two part seat supported on and carried by the lever arm 7 ing a stop, a lever arm, a dog mounted in the lever arm and engaging the stop for holding the door open, a spring, one end of which bears on said dog, a tension bolt for the spring, a saddle carried by the lever arm, a two part seat carried by the saddle In testimony whereof I have signed this the parts of said seat being connected by specification in the presence of two subscribfusible solder and a pin passing through the ing witnesses.

lever arm and having a conical end resting PAUL O. RICHTER. on a bearing formed in the two parts of the Witnesses:

seat, the said pin forming a support for the JOSEPH MOHALE,

outer end of the spring. EARL STUDWELL.

il'opies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

